Kitchen vent or exhaust systems are commonly used to remove steam, odors, and other airborne vapors resulting from cooking on stoves. The exhaust systems often times include grease filters to capture grease carried by the airborne vapors. Generally there are two types of exhaust systems. An up draft system utilizes a hood covering a portion or all of the stove burners to capture the rising air. The hood is attached to the wall, or in the case of a kitchen island, is suspended from the ceiling. Conventional vent hoods typically are cone shaped and include a centrally positioned fan which provides a centralized suction to draw air into the hood. However, such a centralized exhaust fails to capture much of the cooking vapors, which then escape into the ambient kitchen air carrying grease and odors. If a grease filter is not provided, the grease collects on the hood structure and eventually may drip back down onto the stove.
A second type of exhaust system is a down draft system, which is typically built into the stove or adjacent countertop to draw the air laterally and then downwardly into an exhaust duct. Since heated air rises, such down draft systems are very inefficient.
Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved vent hood for exhausting cooking air.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved up draft exhaust system for stoves.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of a vent hood which can be used on a kitchen island.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a kitchen vent hood with improved efficiencies.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of a kitchen vent hood which extends over all of the stove burners to minimize or eliminate the escape of cooking vapors into the ambient kitchen air.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of a kitchen vent hood which creates an up draft curtain around the stove burners to capture substantially all of the cooking vapors.
These and other objectives will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
An improved kitchen vent hood is provided, and is particularly suitable in providing updraft exhaust of cooking vapors on an island stove or cooktop. The vent hood has a plurality of air inlet slots extending around its lower perimeter to draw air into the hood. The hood extends over all of the stove burners so as to provide an exhaust curtain extending 360xc2x0 around the stove burners to substantially prevent cooking vapors from escaping into the ambient kitchen air. The hood includes a plurality of internal vanes or baffles which define compartments, each associated with at least one air inlet slot, which balance the air flow to an exhaust duct mounted at the rear of the vent hood. The slots have flared edges so as to minimize air flow noise, turbulence and pressure losses. The area of the air inlet slots is approximately equal to the cross sectional area of the exhaust duct. A lip extends downwardly around the perimeter of the housing to substantially contain the flow of air upwardly from the stove to an area within the hood for passage through the slots.